Bryan was born in
Herculaneum in the
Missouri Territory on January 12, 1821. His family moved to the Mexican State of Texas in 1831, and settled near
San Felipe. The extended Bryan family later settled in
Brazoria County, and his parents operated a sugar plantation called Peach Point. Guy Bryan attended the private school of Thomas Pilgrim in
Columbia, Texas, joined the Texas Army in 1836, and took part in the
Texas Revolution. In 1842 Bryan graduated from
Kenyon College in
Gambier, Ohio. He studied law, but never practiced, instead becoming a sugar planter in
Brazoria County. His college classmates included
Rutherford B. Hayes, and Hayes visited Bryan at his plantation in 1848. Bryan served in the
Mexican–American War as a private in the Brazoria company commanded by Captain Samuel Ballowe. During the
Civil War Bryan sided with the
Confederacy, and served as volunteer
aide-de-camp on the staff of
Paul Octave Hébert, afterwards serving as assistant adjutant general of the
Trans-Mississippi Department with the rank of major. He established a cotton bureau in
Houston, Texas in order to escape the Union blockade along the Gulf. After the war Bryan moved to
Galveston (1872),
Quintana (1890), and
Austin (1898). He was again a member of the Texas House of Representatives in 1873, 1879, and 1887 to 1891, and he served as
Speaker in 1873. Bryan was elected president of the Texas Veterans Association in 1892 and served until his death in
Austin, Texas, June 4, 1901. He was interred in the
Texas State Cemetery.
Politics He was a delegate to the
1856 Democratic National Convention. Bryan was elected as a
Democrat to the Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1859). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1858. He served as chairman of the Texas delegation to the
1860 Democratic National Convention in
Baltimore.
Texas legislature terms • House of Representatives • Representative of the
Texas House of Representatives, Brazoria district from December 13, 1847 – November 5, 1849. • Representative of the
Texas House of Representatives, District 27 from November 5, 1849 – November 3, 1851 • Representative of the
Texas House of Representatives, District 35 from November 3, 1851 – November 7, 1853 • Representative of the
Texas House of Representatives, District 12 from January 13, 1874 – April 18, 1876 • Representative of the
Texas House of Representatives, District 35 from January 14, 1879 – January 11, 1881 • Representative of the
Texas House of Representatives, District 64 from May 2, 1888 – January 13, 1891 • Senate • Senator of the
Texas Senate, District 24 from November 7, 1853 – November 2, 1857 ==Family==